Agents Kill Two Linked to Series Of Bank Thefts

By JAMES BARRON

Published: January 19, 1990

F.B.I. agents and New York City detectives who were following a car linked to a series of bank robberies opened fire yesterday on two masked men who left a savings and loan branch in Brooklyn with guns drawn and a satchel of cash. One suspect, still wearing a stocking mask and a ski cap, died in the barrage of bullets. The other died at Maimonides Hospital.

Law-enforcement officials refused to say why, if they believed the men had committed the other robberies, they were not arrested before the holdup. The authorities indicated that they did not want to confront the men in the bank, fearing that bank employees might be shot or taken hostage.

Witnesses said the two men, who sprinted from the bank with $20,000 in their satchel, defied Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who had identified themselves and ordered them to stop. The agents, backed up by 30 members of an F.B.I.-police robbery group, surrounded the light blue Datsun 210 fastback as the suspects entered it.

Crash Into Another Car

The suspects tried to drive through the ring of agents closing in on them, witnesses said. The car hit an F.B.I. agent, who landed on the hood. The car came to a stop after crashing into a car parked less than 100 yards from the bank that the authorities said the two had just robbed, the Hamilton Federal Savings and Loan branch at 6501 11th Avenue in the Bensonhurst section.

A spokesman for the F.B.I., Joseph Valiquette, refused to identify the agent who was struck, but said he was not injured.

Mr. Valiquette said the car was driven by Joseph Mangine, 29 years old, of 8650 Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst. The other suspect was identified as Joseph Coluccio, 35. Mr. Valiquette said that his current address was not known, but that he had lived in Brooklyn in the 70's. Mr. Valiquette said both were drug addicts.

The special agent in charge of the New York office of the F.B.I., William Doran, said the chain of robberies began in October 1988 and netted more than $250,000 in 11 holdups. Mr. Valiquette said that the banks were clustered in a one-mile radius and that one of them was two blocks from Mr. Mangine's home.

Visits to Two Other Banks

Law-enforcement officials said that the anti-robbery group had linked other holdups to the Datsun this week and that agents had tracked down the car and began following it. Yesterday morning, the officials added, the car was driven to two other banks, also in Brooklyn. The officials would not name the banks.

Mr. Valiquette said the two men in the car checked out the banks but did not rob them. Then, he said, with the team following caravanlike in unmarked cars, the Datsun headed for the Hamilton Federal branch.

F.B.I. agents watched as the car stopped on 65th Street and the two men left it, wearing their masks and caps, the officials said. As the two went inside the storefront branch, the anti-robbery team sealed off the block, hoping to keep residents away in case of shooting.

The gunplay lasted a few seconds. Philip Fong, who owns the Four Season Wines and Liquors store next to the bank, said a customer ran in, yelling that the bank had been robbed.

'This Was Real Bullets'

''I saw a guy holding a long machine gun,'' Mr. Fong said. ''He started shooting. It was just like on 'Miami Vice.' But this was real bullets.''

Sal Arcurui was at the door of his upholstery shop across the street. ''I heard words like, 'Stop, F.B.I.,' '' Mr. Arcurui recalled. ''The guys kept on going. The F.B.I. guys shot in the air. Then they shot at the car.'' Cathy Abbazia, a sales agent in a real-estate office opposite the bank, watched in amazement as car after car emptied of men wearing F.B.I. jackets and carrying what she said were high-powered rifles. A clerk in a greeting-card shop, Joann Torredelfino, said some agents climbed on their cars and fired down on the Datsun.

When the shooting stopped, the Datsun windshield had several bullet holes, and the windows on the driver's side had been blown out.

photo: Two bank-robbery suspects died as Federal agents shot them at a bank branch in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn. The suspects' car, center, was towed from the scene of the shooting. (NYT/Nancy Siesel)